Because of the Pocket Watch
by Lazy Gaga
Summary: Oneshot! Ed and Al were returning home, but just missed the train to Risembool. They come to an inn, but one of them doesn't come out. Well, alive anyways... Warning: scary-ish, blood, murder, and death. Based on a scary Urban legend.


Ed and Al returned to their small apartment somewhere around 2:00 on a Friday night.

"Gosh, we got home late, huh Al?" Ed asked his younger brother, while in the middle of a particularly large yawn.

"Yeah. You tired nii-san?" Al asked, standing in the doorway, behind his "vertically challenged" older brother.

"Just a bit. But, I'd rather take a shower first. Can you hand me the suitcase?" Ed motioned to the suitcase with his one functional arm.

The brothers had just finished a mission, which unfortunately ended with a busted automail arm. They had proceeded to the train station and caught a train, and headed towards Winry's house for some maintenance. They were supposed to catch the connecting train, to Risembool, but had arrived too late, and had missed the last train for the day. Having no where to go, they decided to stay in an inn for the night.

Ed opened the suitcase with one arm, and had taken out a towel. He removed his signature red jacket, and headed for the shower. Al, not needing one, for lack of a body, had just decided to pick up a book and read.

Things stayed that way for about 10 minutes, until Ed emerged from the bathroom fresh and clean, with a plain shirt and shorts. He looked even more tired than before, to Al.

"Nii-san, are you going to sleep now?" Al asked from his corner of the room.

"Not yet. I feel like something is missing." Ed began to rummage through the suitcase, looking for nothing in particular. "Did we leave something behind?"

"Not that I know of." Al replied.

Ed turned around, and began to look in the pockets of his coat. A moment later, he turned to Al, with a shocked expression on his face.

"..Al..?"

"Yes?"

"I think I lost the watch."

If he could've, Al would have rolled his eyes. The watch Ed was referring to as the silver pocket watch that all state alchemists were required to have, for identification purposes.

"Well, any idea where it is?"

Ed shook his head in reply. "Well, the last time I remember having it was when we were at the train station. I think I took it out to look at the time."

"Oh nii-san..." Al whispered exasperatedly. "Well then, I'll go get it for you!"

"Why? I can come too." Ed offered.

"No thanks." Al declined. "You look tired." It wasn't like Al had anything else to do during the nights, so he wouldn't mind getting out for a while.

"No I'm not!" Ed denied, silently cursing as another large yawn betrayed his protest.

"Yes you are." Al said calmly. He got up and headed towards the door. " Besides, you only have one arm. What if something happens? The train station is all the way across town!"

Ed just glared.

"I'll be back soon nii-san!" Al walked out the door and onto the dark and dimly lit, night-time streets.

Ed harrumphed and slammed the door, and sat on the bed.

_'Well, I could at least do some research.' _Ed though, his glance cast on the small pile of alchemy related books on the floor.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Alphonse didn't return until 2:00 A.M.

It was still pretty dark outside, and he figured that Ed would most likely be asleep by now.

He walked through the door, and closed it lightly, trying to be as quiet as possible. He had found the watch near the railroad tracks, glinting in the moonlight. He was grateful that it wasn't stolen or found by the wrong person.

_'I'll tell nii-san to be more careful with his things tomorrow.'_ Al made a mental note. For some reason, he felt something funny around the time he had discovered the watch. An odd sense of...panic? He brushed it off and made his way home. The feeling nagged at him until he arrived back at the inn.

He looked at the bed, which was enshrouded in the darkness of shadows. The beam of the full moon cast a heavenly glow on his sleeping brother's face. Taking great care not to wake up the slumbering form, he made his way back to the corner, and found the book he was reading earlier. He found that he couldn't see in the darkness, and he didn't want to turn on the light. He was afraid that he would've woken Ed up. He moved closer to his brother's bed, meaning to read in the moonlight.

He gave his older brother one more caring glance before indulging in the book. Ed's face seemed peaceful and calm, and his golden blond hair framed his face, looking pale in the moonlight. Eerie, yet beautiful. It was a haunting image.

Yet, to Al, something seemed...off. He could've sworn that he had seen a strange spot of red infused with the pale yellow strands of Edward's hair, but though nothing of it. He turned his head to the wall adjacent to him, and saw a dark stain on it. He payed it no attention, eager to read his book.

_'I can always investigate in the morning.'_

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Al had been wrapped up in his book the entire night. He was surprised to look up and find it 5:00, and that it was almost time to catch the train to Risembool.

The skies seemed a bit overcast, and dark. Almost like it was going to rain.

_'Poor nii-san. His automail ports always hurts him on days like this.' _Al thought to himself.

His vision turned to his brother, who seemed to still be fast asleep. It was still relatively dark, so nothing was very clear at the moment. He was reluctant to wake his brother, knowing that he had only gotten a little sleep, but then figured that he could finish that on the train. He got up and gently shook his brother, who was laying on his side.

"Hey, nii-san, its time to get ready."

Al got no response. He grasped Ed's shoulder a bit more tightly, and shook a bit harder. He knew that his brother was a heavy sleeper, so he became persistent.

"Nii-sannn...waake up!"

Still no response.

Al became a tiny bit scared at that moment, but quickly dismissed it, thinking that he was being irrational.

"NII- SAN!" Al yelled in his ear. No response.

Al finally became irritated, and turned Ed over onto his back. His face still had that peaceful expression on it, but that wasn't what bothered Alphonse. What did, was the suspicious dark stains coming from underneath Edward, spreading all over the sheets, and dotting his face.

NOW, Al became worried.

"...nii-san..?"

Al lifted the sheets, to find that the evil looking stain was all over the bed. How could he have missed something so important?

Al ran from his spot at his brother's bedside, and flicked on the lights. He screamed at what he saw.

Blood was spattered everywhere. On the floor, on the wall, on the suitcase...everywhere. It was pooled underneath the bed, where a motionless Ed lay. It was all over his sheets, in his hair, on his clothes, and flecked on his face.

Al wished with all his might that he could cry. He wished with every fiber of his spiritual being, that he could sob and bawl like a normal human could, but he couldn't. He could only scream. And that's what he did. He screamed and shrieked, wishing that the horrible nightmare that he was witnessing, would come to an end. It wasn't real, was it? This terrifying nightmare couldn't be real, could it? Ed would just pop right back up and laugh, saying "I fooled you good, Al!", wouldn't he?

But no.

Edward Elric was dead. Al wanted to escape from the horrifying, terrible truth, but the real truth was, Edward was dead. Slaughtered at night, with only one arm for defense.

Al's broken cries could be heard from several floors down.

"THIS ISN'T REAL! THIS ISN'T REAL!" Grief and guilt washed over him like a tidal wave.

Why didn't he check? Why didn't he look? Why? Why? Why?

He dreaded the calls that he would have to make. To Winry, to Mustang, to Pinako, to Riza...

Why?

Al looked to the wall adjacent to him. If he had skin, it would have crawled.

Written in Edward Elric's blood, were nine chilling words, forming one question.

"**Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the lights?"**

* * *

_**Whew! And so ends my first FMA fanfic. Didn't think I could kill off the one character I truly loved, but I did it! This oneshot took me about an hour and a half to make. I was going to work on my Fruits Basket fanfic, but then I read the fanfic of someone who makes fanfics out of urban legends. So, after I read theirs, I thought, "**__Hmm...I wonder if I could write something as good as that. Why don't I try it?" _

_**So I did! The inspiraton came from the great urban legend fanfic person themself: . ! (and their story,: A Stranger At The Door)**_

**_So thats who inspired me to try out mixing manga and urban legends! Just so you know, the urban legend I used was called, "Aren't You Glad You Didn't Turn On The Lights?". I just changed the title of this story._**

**_Almost forgot! Disclaimer: I do not own FMA (although I wish I did), and I (sadly) do not profit in any way from this story. If I did, Winry wouldn't be such a crybaby, but instead, a pretty badass character with some amazing alchemy skillz._**

**_Anyways, I hope you loved this, and that it was a pretty good and somewhat scary fanfic! Although, now that I'm rereading it, its not very scary at all...darn. (semicolon, frowny face) ;( _**

**_Ahh well. I hope you all liked it anyways!_**

**_...man, I used the word "fanfic" alot in this authors note..._**


End file.
